LEED in the MENA Region…Chances and Challenges of Change

Document Type

Book

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical overview of available opportunities and challenges of changes towards a sustainable green building industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The contribution of the LEED system as a third-party green building certification is acknowledged along with its applicability and adaptability to the local contexts of different principal LEED-adopting Arab countries. These are categorized into two groups for further analysis: the former includes countries rich in natural resources such as UAE, KSA, Qatar and Oman, while the latter includes countries with limited resources such as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. Hence, the type of complexities to comply with the system’s requirements in the local context is demonstrated. This includes the dominance of the market-driven factors to adopt green building approach, lack of green materials according to the system’s specifications and lack of practitioners’ awareness. Likewise, pitfalls in the system itself have been highlighted which are related to the lack of clear guidelines to integrate the systems’ requirements during the building process. The results provide a detailed clue about the performance of the LEED system in the region as well as for each principal adopting country.

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